Cartoons: Preparing For Winter

    I have mentioned before how living in the interior of British Columbia really magnifies the importance of the changing of the seasons, and certainly it is the approach of winter that is the most important change that one has to deal with.  All of those things that we used during the summer have to be put away, and replaced by all of the things that we need to use during the four or so months of cold weather and snow.

    Fall is the time all of those things have to be done, and I have been scrambling around trying to get everything done.  I was relieved to have finally dug all of my potatoes and picked everything worth picking in the garden and greenhouse.  I have had the summer tires on the car replaced with the winter tires.  I have converted our lanai where we would sit during the summer, back into a carport where I will park my truck during the winter.  

    Yesterday, I was able to get one of the most worrying jobs done.  We have a heavy metal screen over the culvert that collects the water for our waterline.  The screen prevents rocks and other debris from going into our culvert.  We have to remove the screen from the culvert for the winter, or else ice would form on it and we would loose our water, something we certainly don’t want to happen during the winter.

    I now have most of those pre-winter chores done, except for planting the garlic.  Garlic cloves are planted in the fall where they stay in the ground overwinter, then sprout and develop into bulbs during the spring and summer.  Hopefully, I will be able to get that job done next week.

    While the approach of winter is something that can create dread, when it actually does arrive, for me at least, it is a season that allows for a lot of free time.  Usually the most pressing tasks of winter is the clearing of snow off of the driveway.  Most of my other hours I can spend in pursuit of my other interests.   For me, the most problematic things about winter include the lack of sun because of the short days, the lack of color with all of winter’s whites, grays, blacks, and browns, and just how long winter lasts.  It always seems to take forever for spring to finally arrive.  

View my paintings at:  davidmarchant2.ca